1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of police and law enforcement equipment. More particularly, the invention relates to a compact, hand-held window-breaking tool and a rigid, lightweight carrying case for the window-breaking tool that allows the window-breaking tool to be safely carried on the person, and yet be immediately accessible for use in an emergency.
2. Description of Related Art
In police, fire, and other public safety lines of work, circumstances occasionally arise in which a window needs to be broken immediately in order to gain access to a building or vehicle. For example, an unconscious or injured person or infant may be locked in an automobile that has caught on fire or is about to be submerged in a flood. In such circumstances, the immediate breaking of a window to either unlock the door or provide a means of egress from the vehicle may mean a matter of life or death for the person or persons trapped in the vehicle.
To effectuate the breaking of the window, it is known in the art to use window-breaking devices such as tactical police batons (either telescoping or fixed length), or small, hand-held window-breaking punches. An example of a baton specifically designed for use to break plate-glass type windows is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,752,072, assigned to Armament Systems and Procedures, Inc., the assignee of the present invention. An expandable tactical baton for police use is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,348,297 also assigned to Armament Systems and Procedures, Inc.
The prior art window-breaking techniques using batons have some drawbacks. First, the tempered glass found on the side windows of contemporary automobiles is extremely difficult to break with a police baton, even when a very hard blow is delivered. This is due to a number of factors, including the tempering of the glass, the molded contour of the window cushioning the blow, and rubber seals that absorb the force of the blow and allow the window to flex when the window is struck. Even if the blow is successful in breaking the window, the resulting follow-through will carry the baton into the interior of the vehicle. This presents a risk of occupant/baton impact, and will result in a curtain of sharp glass flying into the interior of the vehicle and onto the occupants.
Consequently, the prior art has developed small, hand-held window-breaking punches. These devices have an extremely hard and sharp steel punch and a hammer or other mechanism that delivers a short, sharp blow to the punch. The device is used by pressing the sharp steel tip of the punch against the glass and then tripping the hammer, which then delivers the blow to punch. The result is that the glass shatters, but since there is only a small impact force that is applied to the hardened tip, the glass does not fly. Rather, the shattered glass tends to fall by gravity proximate to its location in the vehicle door, dashboard, or side panel. Representative patents disclosing these types of punches include U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,657,543 and 5,097,599.
The small hand-held window-breaking punches offer an advantage over police batons in terms of window-breaking performance. However, some models of these punches found on the market today, in which the tip of the punch is exposed, cannot be safely carried on the person due to the risk of serious puncture wounds. In particular, if the window-breaking punch is carried in a shirt pocket by a police officer and the officer trips or falls, the tip of the punch can cause a serious puncture wound to the chest.
Even many bullet-proof vests worn by law enforcement officers fail to provide adequate protection. Many such vests include fibers which can deflect bullets. However, the point of a projectile or implement such as a knife, ice pick (or window breaking punch) may separate such fibers, such that the point passes through the fibers and into the body of the officer.
Because of the inherently dangerous nature of many types of window-breaking punches, law enforcement personnel have tended to carry them in their duty vehicle or attache case, or not use them at all. These circumstances lead to the situation that the device is not readily available for use when needed. Indeed, an officer may have only a few moments to extract the passenger of a vehicle that is on fire or about to be submerged under water. In such case, there simply may not be time to run back to the duty vehicle, or even open an attache case or other cumbersome container. As noted above, these devices can be needed in an instant, and any delay in obtaining the window punch can be a matter of life or death. The failure of a police baton to break the side windows of the automobile can also be potentially catastrophic.
The present invention provides an emergency window-breaking punch and associated quick-release carrying case that overcomes the problems of the prior art. The carrying case protects the user from possible puncture from the window-breaking punch, allowing the punch to be carried on the person without risk of injury. Further, the carrying case allows the window-breaking punch to be immediately retrieved and placed into use. A unique safety locking mechanism securely locks the punch in place inside the carrying case when not in use, and quickly releases to allow the punch to be removed from the carrying case and deployed in an instant.
Further, the carrying case can serve a number of other uses for the law enforcement officer besides carrying the window-breaking punch. For example, the carrying case can be used as a search tool in a pat-down type of search. The carrying case can also be used as a control tool to control a subject presenting a threat to the officer by applying the sides of the carrying case to vulnerable areas of the body, such as the wrist, or the tip of the carrying case to sensitive muscle groups or nerve centers.